Dr. Steven F. Cronshaw
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materials from conferences
and other presentations
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Published Empirical Papers Testing Aspects of the Theory of Workplace Adaptation
The origins of my work on workplace adaptation are found in the work of Sidney A. Fine. Dr. Fine developed Functional Job Analysis or FJA, a job analysis method that is widely cited in authoritative sources on human resources management and industrial psychology. A detailed description of FJA theory, methodology, and applications is found in the 1999 book by Fine and Cronshaw titled Functional Job Analysis: A Foundation for Human Resources Management. Fine’s FJA system is rich and complex in both theory and application. In particular, the FJA concept of adaptive skills is pivotal to the theory, but required conceptual expansion and supportive research findings if it was to realize its extraordinary potential for inquiry, understanding, and application in the organizational sciences. Therefore I set myself to the task if expanding on the adaptive skill concept under the broader theme of workplace adaptation.
I first conducted research to better understand the structure of adaptive skills as they are applied in the workplace. The initial study by Cronshaw and Jethmalani published in 2005 demonstrated that adaptive skills can be comprehensively understood in the terms of the three facets of Locus, Focus, and Purpose. Adaptive skill is predicted to have a dynamic quality such that its structure changes over time. This proposition was tested in Cronshaw’s 2005 paper with good results. Both papers discuss the important implications of their findings for a comprehensive understanding of workplace adaptation.
My understanding of workplace adaptation had its origins in FJA theory. It was therefore important to demonstrate that predictions from FJA theory incorporating the adaptive skill concept were supported by empirical research. The study by Cronshaw and Alfieri published in 2003 showed that a causal sequence links sociotechnical demands of work tasks to the functional skills of Data and People. Importantly, the Cronshaw and Alfieri study showed that this causal relationship is mediated by the use of worker discretion, an adaptive skill crucial to FJA theory. These results were replicated in the health care industry as reported in a paper by Cronshaw, Best, Zugec, Warner, Hysong, and Pugh. The importance of workplace adaptation as a necessary precondition to other workplace skills was empirically confirmed by Cronshaw, Ong, and Chappell (2007) in a paper titled Workers’ Adaptation Enables Work Functioning.
The initial results of our research into workplace adaptation are very promising. Other empirical research and writing projects are presently underway.
Links:
Fine and Cronshaw http://www.psypress.com/9780805812749
Cronshaw and Jethmalani (2005) http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2003.11.004
Cronshaw, S.F. (2005). Developmental dynamics of workplace adaptive skill.
Cronshaw 2005 http://www.fdpsa.com/summary1xbrief/PR-June-2005-Part-2_0028_s.pdf
Cronshaw and Alfieri (2003) http://hum.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/56/9/1107
Cronshaw, Best, Zugec, Warner, Hysong, and Pugh (2007). http://www.ergometrika.org/Volume_4/volume4_no1_2.pdf
Cronshaw, Ong, and Chappell (2007) http://volumeindex.ammonsscientific.com/PR-Contents-of-Vol-100-Feb-Jun.pdf (this is the index page from the journal - abstract to be posted soon)